The Raven Club
The Raven Club is one of the most popular taverns and gambling houses in the whole of Alliria, situated in one of the most crowded areas in the Outer City. It caters to every kind of clientele, be it lowly peasants, wealthy merchants and even nobles, looking to gamble some of their coin in a less conspicuous place.Once a measly inn, all but forgotten and left to the spiders and dirt, Isak Lavelle bought it as his first investment, with the help of his trusted associate Ogden. Together, they spent a small fortune renovating the place and even gained the support of Gwendolyn Vollmund, who paid for the last expenses in return for a place to stay there.
Now it serves as focal point in the Outer City for nights full of drinking, gambling and gossip. It's also served as a gathering place for the Cherry Rose and its members.
Overview
The Raven Club grew from a simple and abandoned tavern to a grand building, with up to three stories and plenty of space. The lobby is the largest place, full of tables that can acommodate plenty of patrons at once. They vary in size and need, with larger tables being mostly used for games of card and dice. The bar is also eye catching, with countless editions of brandy, ale, wine and many other drinks being served at all times. As common for every good tavern, one can always find the latest gossip in Alliria right there on that bar counter. There are also a few rooms spread throughout the main floor, used privately by important clients or accessed only by the workers, such as the kitchen.
The second floor is also outfitted with plenty of tables, although most of those are used for food, with enough space to host a few banquets or small parties. With so much movement around the Raven Club at every night, one can always find people celebrating for many different reasons.
The staircase to the third floor is locked at all times, a door accessible only by Isak and whoever he grants permission to. The ample floor is used as a home by him and many of his associates, with his office and room there, as well as spare rooms utilized by his friends of the Cherry Rose. The remaining rooms are meant for the workers. Isak's room is probably the largest out of all, also used as his office. It was once separated into two rooms, but he had the wall torn down so he could enjoy more space. The decorations of his room are varied and very expensive, with furniture bought from all corners of Arethil. The walls are graced with many breathtaking paintings and even the ceiling has been embellished with a art that resembles a starry sky, as well as windows made of fine glass and silk curtains. The room has a ample space used as a bathroom, with a large bathtub filled with warm water at all times.
A few months after the restoration and expansion of the club, Isak began to install a few hidden entrances in the building, deeming them useful to him and his allies. They lead out to a small maze of tunnels underneath the building, that connect to a few of the storage rooms underground, such as the cellar. One of the tunnels lead directly to a street nearby, a fast escape from the club if disaster were to happen. One of the storage rooms had been vacated and changed into a training ground, also used as collector's room by Isak, holding many of the weapons, armors and other artifacts that he usually finds on his travels. These hidden entrances can only be found and accessed from the outside of the building or from the nearby alleyways that surround it.
History
The Raven Club was once a little and forgotten tavern called The Silver Flagon. It had seen better days, and it was long since eclipsed by other pubs and inns in the Outer City. The previous owner didn't seem to care much for it though, preferring to wallowing on his self pity and drink the last of his wine until the tavern collapsed on itself. One night though, Isak decided to have a drink there, and inspect the place in search of somewhere to start his newly found business life, but he also came upon a future ally there - Ogden of Belgrath - a old dwarven warrior who had seen much of life and now had decided to hang up his sword and drink away the rest of his coin.
It didn't take much convincing to bring Ogden to his side, and they put together a few resources, coming later that week to buy shares of the club from the owner. He questioned their ambition to own such a sad and forsaken place, but didn't stand in their way, and so began the renovations of The Silver Flagon. A few months later, and business had started to breathe new life into the Silver Flagon, but Isak's ambition wouldn't stop then. Together with Ogden, he eventually took the last shares from the previous owner and took full control of the club and all its activities, renaming it as The Raven Club and introducing gambling games to attract new customers.
The plan was a success and soon the Raven Club earned even more attention to his name, and also brought in more coin. Isak and Ogden continued with their plans for renovating the place and also expanding it, and they were helped by a powerful information broker, Gwendolyn Vollmund. She approached Isak one day, offering to pay for the remaining changes in exchange for a quiet place to work, and also lending him information about profitable deals from time to time. In a little over a year, the Raven Club became one of the main attractions of the Outer City of Alliria.
'Empty pockets and stuffed bellies, that's the rule of the house.'
References
The Raven Club GatheringCherry Rose Inc Reunion
Bad Stakes